Chapter 1—Scientific Thinking Flashcards
(27 cards)
What are the ASSUMPTIONS of Psychological Science? Describe them.
1
Determinism: events have causes
- in psych we want to know what causes behaviour
Discoverability: using scientific methods, we can discover the cause of an event to a certain degree of confidence
What is Statistical Determinism?
1
Human behaviour isn’t 100% predictable, but we can make a prediction that will be more accurate than random chance
we accept uncertainty but still believe behaviour can be meaningfully studied and predicted using probabilities
Scientists expect conclusions about behaviour to be driven by what?
1
They expect them to be data-driven—conclusions must be supported by systematically gathered evidence
Short answer: systematically gathered data (evidence)
Describe confirmation bias
1
the tendency to seek out and pay special attention to information that supports one’s beliefs, while ignoring contradicting information
Describe Belief Perseverance
1
One’s unwillingness to consider evidence that contradicts a strongly held view—motivated by a desire to be certain abt one’s knowledge
What is the Availability Heuristic?
1
A bias where memorable events lead people to overestimate how often those events occur.
The more readily available it is, the more easily it is retrieved
What is the difference between Publication Bias and the File Drawer Effect?
1
Publication Bias: The tendency for only statistically significant results to get published
File Drawer Effect: The natural consequence of publication bias. A large number of studies that report no findings don’t get published, the few studies that do find a difference and ARE published produce a distorted impression of the actual phenomenon
What are the four goals of psychological science?
Describe: Identify regularly occurring sequences of events
Predict: Make statements about the future occurrence of a behavioural event with a certain probability)
Explain: Explain the causes of behaviour
Apply: Apply the learned principles of behaviour through research
What is Translational Research?
Research that betters our understanding of a phenomenon and its application—to promote physical and psychological wellbeing
What is a Law?
A regular, predictable relationship between events
Describe pseudoscience
- Attempts to associate with true science
- Uses only anecdotal evidence
- Deliberately too vague to be adequately tested
- Not valid, but sometimes reliable
What is anecdotal evidence?
Evidence from a single case that “illustrates” a phenomenon; when relied on exclusively, its easy to draw faulty conclusions
Describe Effort Justification
People want to convince themselves that their effort was worth it to avoid cognitive dissonance
What are the 3 main parts of Scientific Thinking?
- Reviewing testable hypotheses
- Asking empirical questions
- Making meaningful outcomes of knowledge
What is science?
Applying OBJECTIVE, empirical methods when searching for the causes of natural events
The advantage of science is its objectivity
Makes systematic observations, produces public knowledge, data based conclusions, tentative conclusions, asks answerable questions, and is falsifiable
What makes an observation systematic? (Systematic observations)
Systematic Observations: observations that are planned, structured, and consistent—follow a specific method to ensure reliable and valid data collection
- Precise definitions of what is being measured
- Reliable and valid tools that yield interpretable data
- Generally accepted research methodologies
- A a system of logic for drawing conclusions and fitting them into general theories
What is an Objective Observation?
An observation that can be verified by more than one researcher; defining terms and procedures well enough for someone to repeat the study and replicate the results
What is a Tentative Conclusion?
Conclusions that are subject to revision based on future research
What is an empirical question?
A question that can be answered with data, systematic observation and techniques of the scientific methodology; precise enough to allow predictions to be made
What is a hypothesis? How is it different from a theory?
Hypothesis: An educated guess about a relationship between variables that is then tested empirically
Theory:
1. Summarizes and organizes existing information about a phenomenon
2. Provides an explanation for that phenomenon
3. Serves as a basis for making empirical predictions
What are the three ways of knowing?
Authority, Reason, Empiricism
What is the A Priori Method?
A way of knowing where one develops a belief by reasoning and logical agreement with others who find the argument convincing; essentially by coming to a consensus with others.
This method causes beliefs to go in and out of fashion without real progress
What is empiricism?
Learning things through experience or direct observation, and reflecting on those experiences/observations
What are the four main reasons to take this course?
- Begin the process of learning how to do research in psychology; provides the base for understanding information in other psych courses
- Makes us critical thinkers
- We may apply these concepts later in our degrees
- Introduces us to scientific thinking
